Listen to me, oh Starless Sea

 


Hey guys! Quick message before we get into this absolute dramafest - this was not just written by me! Please give Transient oodles of love and praise for helping me make this! Torrentstar is an amazing character, and T is an outstanding author. I couldn't have done this without her!

Thorn and Torrent don't get together in your typical fashion. In fact, they don't get together at all in this thread. The events directly following are what result in the coming litter. Please keep in mind that this topic also takes place directly after the December Gathering. T and I have had a bit of trouble keeping our schedules lined up haha, so we put it all together on a Google Doc with the intention of posting it all together.

We hope you enjoy the fireworks!!



~ Much love ~
~ K&T ~







“There really isn’t much difference between love and hate. They both get out of control easily, and one turns into the other.”
― Rick Riordan

The forest in the shroud of night was always a different sight than it was in the brilliance of day. After sunset, all a cat had to guide his way were his eyes; and if StarClan were merciful enough, he would also have a share of their divine light, which streamed in silver rivulets down from the heavens.

To Torrentstar, the sharp chill of late leaf-fall only seemed to enhance the eldritch nature of midnight. Shadows swirled tauntingly around his paws, gathering thickly beneath every fern and reed. His sight was devoid of the bright colors that came with sunlight, but in return he could make out enough of his path to pad along with ease. In an effort to pierce through the oblivion around him, his every sense was stretched to its furthest limit. Sounds that were comforting in the day seemed unfamiliar now. Nearby rang the scuffling of a late night squirrel at work... But the tom had business on his mind, not the casual intention of a hunt. He strode on, paws crunching ever so softly on beaten snow.

At length, the towers of Fourtrees loomed ahead. Through the break in the trees, the RiverClan leader caught sight of the great black monolith that was Great Rock. It was a silhouette against dazzling Silverpelt. Torrentstar stepped into the clearing. For a moment, he hesitated as he cast a glance about. The place was empty... or so it seemed. The gathering had taken place just the day before, but already the dozens of pawprints had been covered by a fresh layer of snow. There was just one set, newer than the rest, that stood out immediately. His sharp green eyes followed the trail to the figure well-hidden in the shadow of the Great Rock. The tom's already stony expression grew more severe. He headed for the figure, stopping only a few tail lengths away. From this distance, he could make out the different shades of green in the bright eyes that stared out of the shadows.

"So you've come, Thornstar." Torrentstar uttered. His tone was as grave as it had ever been, and as cold as the air that filled their lungs.

How fitting, sitting beneath the Great Rock as she was. If she were the introspective type she’d consider it symbolic. She'd always been rooted in the shadows of her past... in the shadows of the other leaders.

She was never meant to lead.

Torrentstar was likely here to tell her just that. The tom handled the role with an elegance she’d never been able to muster. She wasn’t the graceful, poised type. It wasn’t in her blood. His green eyes pierced through her in a way no other’s ever had. The tom’s gaze seemed to render her transparent and open, as if he could see right through her.

She didn’t like it.

Rising to her paws, she stepped out from the looming shadow of the Great Rock, lifting her head and meeting his frigid stare with one of her own. His position as friend or foe was finally coming under question tonight. Should the alliance sever tonight, he would see no weakness from her. With that in mind, the shadowclan leader lifted her chin and spoke finally in a rough, rusty voice.

"Did you doubt I would, Torrentstar?"

"It was hard to be certain."

Torrentstar responded almost immediately. Despite the lack of emotion in his voice, one could not help but sense a certain edge in them. Perhaps it was the way he narrowed his eyes as he spoke, the way he curled his tail ever so slightly. And indeed, such an interpretation would not be inaccurate. His statements were a thinly-veiled swipe at the ShadowClan leader. "If one were to have already proved himself reliable, others would not doubt him. Do you not think so?"

At last, the tension that had been brewing between the two cats for the past few moons overflowed its boundaries. Here, in this sacred clearing of their ancestors', there were no other mortal cats to overhear their conversation. Torrentstar had no more need to keep up appearances. They were not in the middle of a Gathering, where he was forced to honor etiquette, watching his every word in fear that it would bring unnecessary harm to his clan. He was free to make his thoughts known tonight, and there were quite a few of them he had to share...

Her eyes narrowed at that, tail twitching in agitation. Torrentstar was clearly jabbing at her, but admittedly she wasn't wholly certain as to what would cause him to do so. She hadn't wronged him. What spoiled his prey tonight?

She approached him, the fur on her shoulders raising subtly. "I think I proved myself plenty during the great flood, not that I dictate my actions around trying to impress anyone." Her tone was brisk but not aggressive. Torrentstar hadn't done anything to warrant the Shadowclanner's infamously virulent temper... yet.

The large tabby stared her down―coldly, almost derisively.

"If you have proven anything, it is how a clan can fall apart under an irresponsible leader. And is that not what has happened? We had quite an audience yesterday. You need only ask one of the cats who attended the Gathering, and I am sure he can give you his opinion of ShadowClan now. The whole forest knows that ShadowClan’s leader cannot even control her own deputy." The words slipped off his tongue, as sharp as the icy breeze that ruffled their whiskers.

He knew he was testing Thornstar's limits; he did not care. He was usually more rational than this. But somehow, whenever it came to the ShadowClan leader, caution seemed to fly to the wind. Illogical anger burned in his chest, and its heat was enough to drive him mad.

"I thought highly of you, Thornstar." Lashing his tail, the RiverClan tom continued on. His voice grew lower with every word, until it was audibly a growl. "I believed you to be capable of leading ShadowClan, but I turned out to be so wrong. Is it fun to make such a mockery of yourself and your clan? Because it certainly seems so from my perspective. I wonder if Scorchstar had bees in his brain? Otherwise, how could he not know that his protégé would not even observe proper Gathering etiquette?"

Was he merely insulted that his initial impression of Thornstar had ended up wrong? No, it was more than that... But at this point, even he did not understand himself. The frustration that bubbled like an endless stream did not make any more sense than fish flying through the sky.

Torrentstar's expression twisted, disgust flashing across his features. "I don’t understand you, Thornstar. Why accept the position, when you never had the resolution for it?"

Her claws sank into the frozen ground.

"Who are you to talk down to me?" She snarled, temper spiking. The tom’s frigid words crossed line after line, and in an instant the fur along her spine shot up to stand on end. A low growl tore from her, and she slammed her forepaw into the ground. "You have no idea what I’ve had to deal with these last moons. You haven’t walked in my pawsteps, and you certainly have no right to say a single word about Scorchstar. We might hold the same position, Scorchclaw, but your opinion is irrelevant. You must be pigeon-brained to think you know what you’re talking about right now. You wouldn’t understand the choices I’ve made, even if I bothered to explain them to you."

"Don't you dare call me by that name!" Torrentstar spat furiously. There was liquid fire in his pale eyes―swirling, raging, devouring.

The large tabby took a threatening step forward, muscles tensed beneath his dark, bristling fur. "Scorchclaw" was the first name he had ever received; in many ways, it was his identity. All he had done thus far was try to cover it up the various titles of a 'star. The scarred she-cat was wielding his old name against him as an insult, but she was correct. At heart, he was still Scorchclaw, that stubborn, floundering warrior weighed down by all his standards and traditions. He had not changed much since those times.

"Who am I, you ask? We are the leaders of allied clans. If no one else, I think I deserve to question your actions the past few moons. Unless you don't consider RiverClan your ally anymore? In that case, everything would make sense." Torrentstar scoffed, glare growing fiercer. "You allow your deputy to lead ShadowClan into war, without so much as a word to RiverClan. Your actions have made your thoughts on our alliance very clear."

She snorted at his immediate outrage. "You sure about that? You’ve spent the last moons since you became leader shooting me glares and scoffing at me. Are you sure I’m the one who’s begun to dismiss the alliance? Which, by the way, since we’re on the topic. You haven’t said a single word to me in that time involving Riverclan or it’s goings on." His advance didn’t even make her blink, and she lashed her tail in return.

He had no idea what he was getting into did he?

"You’re delusional! You know, that’s the funny thing about communication. It goes both ways. How was I supposed to see you as an ally when you’ve done nothing but treat me like an enemy!" She tilted her head, sticking her face in his. They were practically nose to nose at this point. "Which, I might add, is a really interesting development after that discussion we had way back when. If memory serves correctly, you mentioned hoping the alliance would last... just before we ran face first into a fox." Her mismatched gaze flickered with distaste. "Maybe if you acted more like someone I could bring these issues to, I would. If you were still the same warrior I once knew... but you’ve changed. You’re a coward now, refusing to even address a problem you’ve clearly had with me for moons. What in Magpiestar’s name would make you think that behavior like that would encourage me to lean on you or yours for help?"

Her words slipped beneath his pelt, piercing deeper into his flesh than any thistles could. So she thought he was a coward?

The RiverClan leader bared his fangs, tufted ears swiveling downward. It was not often he displayed such open aggression toward another cat, let alone another leader. Something told Torrentstar, however, that Thornstar could take care of herself. She had always managed to. In this case, there was no point in holding back. He was not about to have a friendly sparring match the way he had with Oakstar; even so, there was one thing the ThunderClan leader had taught him. Sometimes force was necessary.

There were other solutions he could have used then, but reason was a rational cat's. At that moment, Torrentstar was done with being a rational cat. "If it's communication that you want," He growled, "then this is the only communication we'll be able to have." In the next instant, he was lunging forward.

She anticipated his attack. As soon as his posture changed she shifted her weight backwards. He was faster than she expected, and he slammed into her just as she lifted her forepaws off the ground to meet him head on. She felt herself tip backwards, her back slamming roughly into the ground as the tom slammed her down.

But if he thought she was just going to lay there and take it, he was dumber than she thought.

"Fine then!" Thornstar snapped, driving her hind legs into his underbelly, hard and kicking him off of her. She wasted no time in lunging at him in return, claws outstretched. It was clear he meant business here. This wasn’t some lighthearted brawl.

This was a fight.

One she wasn’t about to lose.

The force of Thornstar's blow caused Torrentstar to stagger, but it did not take him long to regain his balance. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the flashing claws carving through the air. Two possible options flashed through his mind immediately. Instead of shying away, he whirled to face his opponent. He crouched, planting his paws as firmly as he could against the snowy ground. Thornstar's enraged features loomed above him, before her claws were cutting into his shoulders. Tufts of tabby fur were ripped out, while the first droplets of blood trickled forth. The tom merely gritted his teeth, withstanding the pain. Without missing a beat, he lowered his head and slammed it under Thornstar's chin.

Her head snapped up with the force of the blow and she grunted in pain. If she were any less angry, she’d have probably been impressed with how smooth the counterattack had been. However, at the moment all she could focus on was the fury rising in her blood. It’d been so long... She’d dealt with all this tension with him for so long.

Nothing was alright anymore.

The fire had finally broke out, and Torrentstar was the spark igniting it all.

Raw, sinewy muscle rippled beneath her fur as her hind legs launched her forward with as much force as she could muster. She rammed into him, using the lunge to ram her shoulder into his nose.

Maybe she should feel bad about that?

...

Nah, he deserved it.

A strangled grunt tore from Torrentstar's maw. The agony was intense, unlike anything he had ever felt before. He reeled, and for a moment it was impossible to distinguish up from down, left from right. Driven by pure instinct, he lashed out with a paw, only to feel his claws part fur.

Thornstar was certainly not playing around; he had to give her that much. But he had started this, and he was not about to back down anytime soon. If she thought that his opinion was insignificant, then he would just have to prove otherwise.

His jaws closed around velvety membrane, and he ripped through it with a sharp jerk of his head. If the ShadowClan leader had had any qualms about her tattered ears, she had just lost another piece of her left one.  

She felt him tear through her ear, but hardly reacted. If he was trying to hurt her, that was the last place he’d be able to do it. She’d had her ears tattered so many times now, the resulting pain was practically a pinch. She felt the blood begin to escape from the new wound, but ignored it. She sank her teeth into the first thing she could reach, her fangs tearing into his foreleg without hesitation. She dug her claws into his sides, locking them together. Shifting her weight, she rolled them till he was pinned beneath her.

"Get over yourself already!" She hissed around the welling blood in her mouth. "Quit acting like some angsty, scorned apprentice. You’re a leader, aren’t you? Fight like it!" She snarled, slamming her hind leg into his gut a second time.

Torrentstar did not say a single word, but the flames burning in his eyes portrayed more than enough. Rage, indignation, frustration―those emotions that had been simmering within him for the past few moons, suffocating him every time he saw her, now coagulated to form a sharp, resolute blade. He would let everything out tonight. After he had, perhaps he would be able to better understand why this scarred she-cat was capable of driving him so far. Had he simply gone insane?

It was pitiful, really, that he only ever seemed to be able to sort his feelings out through violence. Torrentstar liked to think that he was a rational cat, and for the most part he was. Whenever he tried to keep control over himself, however, he usually ended up locking his feelings away. He no longer had any idea what the right thing to do was.

Heat pulsed in his chest, seeming to set every nerve within him on fire. Adrenaline was rushing through his blood. Gazing up into the mismatched eyes above him, Torrentstar snarled mockingly. He kicked out with his hind legs, tearing through fur and flesh. Not enough. Not quite enough. His mind was filling with the haze of battle; in such a state, one relied on pure instincts rather than conscious thought. Thornstar was stronger than any other cat he had fought before, and he was starting to feel the thrill of their grappling match.

That was how everything fell to pieces.

Assuming that his opponent would shy away from the blow, Torrentstar lashed one forepaw upward. It was simply meant to be a feint. But at that moment, the tom had made a mistake. The kind of battle they were in was not a friendly one in which such assumptions could be made; it was no different from a true battle, in which one well-aimed blow could lead to death. Consequently, his claws ripped right through Thornstar's exposed throat.  

Torrentstar realized the horrors of what he had done a second too late. Blood sprayed unto his face and into his open maw, warm with the pulse of life. His green eyes stretched wide.

Thornstar choked as the feeling of claws tearing through her throat ripped her consciousness from that addictive battle haze and sent her crashing back to reality. She knew this pain. She’d felt something all too similar to it just days prior, when Spottedstar’s jaws shredded her neck and took her first life.

And here was Torrentstar, stealing her second.

Stupid rat!

Fighting for air, she gurgled out a rage-filled war cry, yowling around the blood filling her throat. She couldn’t hardly breathe. She had to act fast. Sinking her teeth into his chest, the massive she-cat raked her claws over his exposed underbelly with raw, savage strength. He’d crossed the line. He’d made that choice, and she was taking him down with her in turn. Granted, she probably could have done it in a less brutal way but at the moment rational thought eluded her.

Still frozen with shock, Torrentstar was unable to react in time to shove the other leader off of him. By the time he understood exactly what had happened, the pain was setting in. Absolute agony filled his consciousness. The scream that ripped from his jaws seemed to draw out every last ounce of strength he had left in him. He thrashed, but it was a futile effort by that point. Struggle as he might, he was in his death throes.

Oh, how this she-cat frustrated him....

As the strength began to fade from her body Thornstar faltered, collapsing beside him in a bloody heap. The bloodlust faded, and her world went dark just as she realized exactly what she had done.

Two bodies lay at the foot of Great Rock, weltering in blood and gore.

---

For most living creatures, death spelled the end of everything. There were, however, exceptions to this rule, and they were the cats who had been blessed by StarClan. Before the power of the ancients, even natural laws had to bend.

At length, Torrentstar snapped awake. It took hardly a second before his last memories came rushing back with a vengeance. The leader clambered to his paws―gingerly, for his wounds throbbed violently with every motion. Blood flow had ceased, but a single careless action would start it again. Of all his wounds, the worst was the long, snakelike one parting the fur on his underbelly; the rawness of it was frightful to look at.

Turning, the leader fixed the cat beside him with a scorching glare. "You...!" He began, venom dripping from his voice. Further words failed him. His whiskers quivered with the force of silent emotion.

He had taken her life, and in exchange, she had taken his. Tonight, both of them had broken the Warrior Code.

Thornstar forced her heavy paws to move, gasping for breath as she sank her claws into the ground for stability and rolled on to her belly. A violent cough rattled her heavy frame as she expelled whatever blood was left in her burning lungs.

Tonight she had taken another life.

That had been the farthest thing from her intention when she agreed to meet him here.

But intentions didn’t matter anymore. Tonight had proved that now more than ever it was time to be clear. Narrowing her mismatched glare on the tom beside her, she rose to her paws. "Shut up. You're just as to blame as I am, fish-breath."

Her voice came out as a hollow rasp, rough with the strain of her now healing vocal cords. It hurt to speak... badly. But only kits whined about things like that.

"Let’s finish this, Scorchclaw."